disappearance of nothing
by AwesomeSaucelv8
Summary: Tsubomi was a good girl. She was. So why didn't father see? Written just in time for Kido's birthday. Trigger warnings: Death, abuse. The story of a girl's eyes that will not be missed.


**It has been literally 5 months since I last published something and than wow.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. Probably not an accurate retelling of Kido's birthday at all.**

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Tsubomi was a good girl. She _was_. She was as good as she could be.

So why didn't father see?

The girl sat in a new dress, playing with new dolls, but even Tsubomi wasn't young enough to ignore the fact that father only bought these so she wouldn't complain. He bought these so that when visitors came around, while big sister was allowed to be a charming little angel, and smile and have tea with them, Tsubomi would sit in her room, unheard, unseen. Many days passed like this. It had almost come to be expected.

But at least father paid attention to her. Mother would tell them all to look away. She would tell them not to stare. But what hurt most was when she told them _She is not my daughter _and _take her away from me. _Why? Tsubomi would ask. But not aloud. Never aloud. Big sister warned her against speaking up.

She already was a nothing. She just wanted to disappear.

Tsubomi would sometimes cry into big sister's shoulder at night, sometimes, when the lights had turned off and father was well into his slumber, when she wasn't afraid of walking down the corridor and wasn't afraid of monsters. After all, there wasn't much at night that compared to what she saw in the day. The biggest monster was Them, the collective horror.

Them was everywhere. Them was everyone. Pointed fingers, hushed whispers. Treacherous thoughts, sneering faces. Disappointment. Fear. Too many eyes.

So it was no wonder big sister often found a little green haired girl sharing a blanket with her, sniffling, holding back tears.

Sometimes they would even cry together.

But when the sun was up they both had to swallow down these feelings, and big sister would smile at father and at her mother, but not Tsubomi's mother, and Tsubomi would try and fade into the wall as much as possible. Whenever she tried to stand out, she would fall. So she stood. And watched. She ate what she was given, never asked for seconds, never looked twice at a new toy, never talked first, and most of all, she never played with anyone other than her sister. She did this because loneliness was better than getting hurt. She may have been young, but that much she understood.

It was father that didn't seem to understand.

Tsubomi was trying. She really, truly was. Her father expected more things from her, even though she did everything he asked. Mother expected her to die. And her _real_ mother, well, Tsubomi had never seen her real mother, but sometimes she would pretend, and it would be nice. Maybe her real mother would hold a big party for her birthday and instead of having Them come over, they could invite the whole street, and all of Tsubomi's friends from school because if Tsubomi had her real mother, maybe she'd have friends.

But as it was, it was Tsubomi's birthday, and she only had a new dress and a new doll and her sister couldn't even play with her.

She daren't complain. At least when she was alone, she could disappear.

Father had said a brief _happy birthday_ in passing, and her mother looked at her for once, looked at her without snarling or swearing or crying. But nobody else. They probably didn't even know when her birthday was. _January 2. Kido Tsubomi's birthday_. It was written on her calendar, in big, red letters. _Kido Tsubomi_. How she hated the name. Mother hated it too, or at least, once, Tsubomi heard her talking to father about it. _You brought that child here without asking me first_, she would say, _You didn't even name it with my permission_, she would say, _Now that you've named it you have to keep it!_

So Tsubomi wished that she was named something else. Maybe that would make mother happy.

Sister said she loved the name Tsubomi. She thought it was nice. Tsubomi knew it was a curse. And that's why she didn't have friends. That's why her birthday was never celebrated. That's why.

But still, she daren't complain. Not a peep. It was better that way.

The door slammed and the girl looked up. Father had left. Tsubomi couldn't possibly understand why, when They were over. Didn't father have a job he was doing? And later, when she realised he wasn't coming back anytime soon, any hopes she had held deflated like the balloons she never ever got. Of course father wasn't going to get her a present. Of course it wasn't a cake, or balloons, or even a sticker or something. He was just angry again. At least this time he was outside and angry, not inside and angry, which was much scarier than Them or any other horrible thing. When father was out, then that also meant…

Big sister came in then, all smiles. Tsubomi felt herself smile too, because big sister was magic like a fairy and could make anyone smile, even poor little Tsubomi. And, sister had a cake. It was only small, about as big as a palm, but it was all Tsubomi's. Sister even said she didn't have to share. And for the first and last time that year, Tsubomi took something without even saying thank you, and ate it all up. It was sweet.

_Happy birthday,_ was what she said, and Tsubomi felt that maybe it was a happy birthday after all.

Together they spent some time, laughing with real laughs and smiling because who knows when they would next be able to smile like this – They were gone, father was gone, mother wasn't intruding, and it was just the Kido sisters, actually enjoying a day. Or at least, part of a day, which was better than no day at all. It was times like these that stopped Tsubomi from disappearing completely. It was sister that was her light in the darkness that they had to wake up to.

It was getting darker and darker before father came home. Tsubomi could tell because of the way he opened the door. When he was angry, and he opened the door, it always slammed on the coatrack a little and sometimes there would be a curse as a hat fell to the floor. She wondered why it was that he always forgot where the coatrack was, even though it was his idea to put it near the door. A silly decision.

Just like Tsubomi.

And suddenly, the happy bright smiling birthday time was over and it was father's time now.

There was a lot more stomping this time, a lot more, and Tsubomi was scared. What if he hit her? What if he hit sister? It went past her room, a little staggered, and they both breathed a sigh of relief. They came back again, but never once did father enter the room, thankfully. He did scream mother's name, though. Twice. There was silence and he screamed again. Sister must have known something was up, but poor Tsubomi had never heard anything more scary in her life. It was a monster. A monster had taken over father and now he was a big scary beast. Sometimes this happened. But never this bad.

Sister clutched her tight, like a shield, like a knight in shining armour. Any breath, any movement, might tell him where they were and then he would be more than angry – he'd be mad. So they sat, and he just kept screaming, kicking something, and then turned the oven on to make dinner. Then it was quiet.

Well, at least he hadn't neglected them after his rampage, like he often did. At least Tsubomi would (hopefully) get something to eat.

But father hadn't finished. With the somewhat noisy stove still turned on, he just began screaming, and screaming, in pain and agony. His daughter felt sorry for him, because maybe he was only mean to people because he was hurting himself. Maybe it was Them again. Sometimes mother and father would talk about it, something like _Shut up, we're fine! _Mixed in with things like _Maybe we should think about changing business…_

Tsubomi had no idea what they meant, but it was these conversations that always happened after They came. But tonight was different. There was no conversation. Just screaming. And a peculiar smell. Father had been screaming so much he forgot to turn off the stove or something. But instead of turning it off, he just kept screaming.

And screaming.

It was starting to get a bit hot, wasn't it?

The screams bubbled, which, in hindsight, was a strange yet ominous thing for them to do. Tsubomi never heard of bubbling screams before. That was the first sign.

The second sign was when sister finally realised what was happening. There was fear in her eyes, fear which Tsubomi had only ever known on one other person- herself. And, like she could make anyone smile, with her magic, sister made Tsubomi scared too.

There wasn't enough time to escape.

For the first time ever, the children were allowed to leave, allowed to disappear. But for the first time ever, Tsubomi felt what it was like to be burned. The roof was starting to warp and crack, and a piece of wood hit her on the head, but the heat was so much worse. It was father's last hurrah. His last retort. Something licked at the stairs, red and hot a flaming and _burning_, and they hugged each other close. Something was crumpled in the middle of the floor beneath them, something inhuman. It was father. Was.

Some more screams, mother's, sister's, her own. She was trapped. All her life, Tsubomi had been trapped in this house with these parents with this life, and now she was going to die alone. It was getting hard to breath. Her sister had already succumbed. Lying on the floor, brightness and heat and _red_ surrounding both of them like some voodoo ritual. Tsubomi never knew what it was like to die, but she had always imagined a more peaceful passing. She wasn't sure what it was like to die, but she'd always thought it would happen when she was old, and her real mother would appear, and so would her sister because older people die first.

Was sister already dead?

Crying out her name, again and again, Tsubomi watched as the only person who had ever cared about her was eaten alive. Her mind fuzzed, and her screams were bubbling just like dad.

There was darkness, a snake's mouth which Tsubomi knew was death come to take her, and then-

_Happy birthday, Tsubomi._

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**And that's a wrap! Well, I was going to wrap it up when Kido's sister gave her the cake but happy endings.  
****I was just surfing Tumblr while I arranged some music, and the suddenly it's Kido's birthday and I realised that whoops, I forgot again. And decided to actually do something. Sorry. This took literally an hour more than it should have at 1,774 words.**

**I need to write more.**

**Anyways, see you, bye!**


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